1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an implement for use in the game of golf, more particularly to a golf bag for receiving golf clubs, wherein areas within the bag organize frequently-used golf clubs and protect golf clubs from damage.
2. Description of Background Art
The game of golf is played using a specialized set of equipment, including golf clubs. A set of golf clubs may contain fourteen or more clubs, including irons, woods, and a putter. In general, a golf club is formed of a shaft and a head attached to one end of the shaft. To provide a padded and secure area for gripping the club, a grip surrounds the shaft opposite the head. This configuration makes carrying numerous clubs cumbersome without use of a golf bag. The typical golf bag is cylindrical and has an open top through which golf clubs are inserted and removed. When positioned in the golf bag, the grips of the golf clubs rest on the bottom surface of the bag with the club heads extending from the open top. Modern golf bags often contain dividers near the open top that serve to separate the golf clubs.
The primary purposes of a golf bag are to organize and protect golf clubs during transport. When transporting a golf bag containing numerous clubs, the clubs often shift positions, making it difficult to identify a specific club and extract the club once identified. Furthermore, shifting may create an uneven weight distribution that makes carrying the bag difficult. As such, a convenient system of organization ensuring that clubs remain in their assigned areas is necessary to a well-designed golf bag.
With regard to protection, advances in materials engineering have improved club performance at the cost of durability, particularly with woods and putters. Graphite shafts that are frequently used in modern golf clubs, particularly with woods such as the driving club, are easily scratched or nicked when contact is made with the metal shafts or heads of other clubs. Similarly, the enlarged heads and ball-engaging face of modern putters are prone to damage when contacting other clubs. For these reasons, golf bags must impart protection to golf clubs by preventing unnecessary contact between individual clubs.
Numerous golf bag designs attempt to create a convenient system for organizing and protecting golf clubs during transport. U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,184 to Smith discloses a system of protection and organization wherein the irons are inserted into pre-assigned areas such that the heads contact the bottom surface of the golf bag. Other areas are assigned to the woods and the putter wherein the heads extend from the top of the bag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,397 to Pratt discloses a partition attached to the open top of a golf bag that includes grooves extending upward to retain and segregate the clubs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,028 to Shin et al. discloses a receptacle attached to the open top of a golf bag that includes a plurality of compartments for receiving clubs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,240 to Rich et al. discloses a golf bag with a top portion having shallow indentations for receiving club heads. On the interior of each indentation is an opening through which the shaft may be inserted. Extending downward from each shaft opening is a protective sleeve for preventing contact between individual shafts.
The prior art golf bags discussed above serve to organize and protect golf clubs but fail to consider practicalities associated with organization and protection. The putter is the shortest club. Because of the putter""s length, it is usually shorter than the golf bag itself, making retrieval of the putter difficult when it is placed among other clubs. The short length also permits the putter head to contact the edge of the golf bag, thereby causing undue wear, and become entangled with the shafts of other clubs, making removal difficult. With regard to use, the putter is statistically the most frequently used club, followed by the driving club. As such, a well-designed system of organization should place the putter and driving club in a prominent and easily accessible area.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,691 to Ratcliff et al. discloses a mount for securing a putter in a golf bag. The mount includes a bracket attached to the edge of the bag that receives the putter head. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,090 to Tucker discloses a clip-mounted device that mounts the putter to the exterior of the golf bag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,520 to Tang and U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,095 to Beck et al. disclose golf bags having a plurality of compartments for housing the irons, wedges, and woods, and segregated compartments for the putter. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,638 to Chow discloses a putter housing on the exterior of a golf bag.
Based on the prior art, a need exists for a golf bag that organizes all clubs, while giving prominence and a high degree of protection to the head of a putter and the graphite shaft of a driving club. The following, disclosed invention relates to such a golf bag.
The present invention relates to a golf bag for receiving and transporting golf clubs including woods, irons, and a putter. The golf bag is comprised of a substantially hollow, elongate body, a base element, and an upper element. The body has a front portion, a pair of side portions, a back portion, an open upper end, and a lower end which is covered by the base element. The upper element attaches to the upper end of the body and includes a U-shaped protective divider and at least one general divider. The U-shaped protective divider has a pair of spaced leg segments and a base segment, each leg segment having a terminal end and an opposite end which is connected to said base segment. The leg segments extend inward from the upper end of the front portion of the body to define at least one protective aperture which may be located adjacent to the front portion of the body. The at least one general divider extends from the U-shaped protective divider to one of the pair of side portions or the back portion to thereby form a plurality of general apertures that are segregated from the first protective aperture by the U-shaped protective divider. A partition may extend downward from each of the protective dividers to the base element, thereby dividing the interior of the body into compartments.
The at least one protective aperture may include a first protective aperture that is positioned adjacent to the body, preferably in the front of the golf bag. The first protective aperture may receive a golf club, preferably a putter. The grip end of the putter may rest on the base element with the putter head positioned between the leg segments of the U-shaped protective divider. In this position, the user of the golf bag may insert the putter into the first protective aperture and remove the putter from the first protective aperture without interference from other golf clubs held by the golf bag in sections defined by the general apertures.
The at least one protective aperture may further include a second protective aperture. The second protective aperture may be formed in the protective divider and may be located adjacent to the first protective aperture. The second protective aperture may receive a golf club, such as the driving club, and, in conjunction with the partition, serves the purpose of protecting the shaft of the driving club from damage by segregating the shaft from other clubs. Like the head of the putter, a graphite shaft of a driving club is prone to damage when contacted by other clubs. In addition to protecting the shaft, the second protective aperture makes the driving club accessible to the user of the golf bag. Although not used on every hole, the driving club is statistically the second most frequently used golf club. As such, placement of the driving club in the center of the golf bag has the advantage of improved access.
The first and second protective apertures, in conjunction with the general apertures, form a system wherein the most frequently used and most easily damaged golf clubs are most accessible to the user and adequately protected from making contact with other clubs.